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Committee discusses DESE school-nurse certification and union implications; item returned to sponsor
Summary
Committee member Ms. Babcock raised DESE school-nurse certification as a possible recruitment strategy; union president Kim Auger warned of labor-law constraints and a six-month disassociation rule; the committee referred the topic back to the sponsor for more information.
School committee member Ms. Babcock asked the Everett School Committee on Feb. 25 to examine the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education process for certifying school nurses as a potential way to address nurse shortages in schools. She said some nurses in other districts reported professional benefits from DESE certification and asked for time to present the DESE steps and a practitioner's experience.
Why it matters: Everett has fewer nurses than some other districts and committee members sought solutions to recruit and retain school nurses; the discussion identified labor-relations and implementation constraints that could limit immediate action.
Kim Auger, identified in the meeting as the president of the Everett Teachers Association (ETA), told the committee that the district's nurses are represented by a municipal union and that any move to transfer nurses into a separate district-managed unit would raise labor issues. Auger said nurses would have to disassociate from their current union for six months before being eligible to join a different bargaining unit, and that attempting to create a separate hiring stream could be perceived as union-raiding.
Committee members also mentioned an incentive program tied to DESE certification that was discussed publicly; at the meeting a committee member said DESE-related incentives were reported as a one-time payment (reported in discussion as $5,000), but who would pay that incentive or its administration was not specified during discussion.
Given the legal and bargaining considerations, the committee voted to refer the DESE school-nurse certification discussion back to the sponsor so members can review written materials and hear additional stakeholder input before taking any further steps.
